Whistle For The Choir

Learn how to play Whistle For The Choir on one acoustic guitar!

‘Whistle for the Choir’ is a song off the 2006 album ‘Costello Music’ by British indie/rock band The Fratellis.

Spy Tunes have recorded a one guitar version of the song in the key of E and A.

In the key of E, we get this progression:

Verse/Chorus

| E | E | G#m | G#m Gm | F#m | F#m | B | B7 |

Solo

| D | D | F#m | F#m Fm | Em | Em | A | B7 |

Notice how the solo section use the same chords, just a tone down from the verse/chorus progression.

In the key of A

The original version has been transposed to the key of A in order to work with a female voice, now the chords are:

Verse/Chorus

| A | A | C#m | C#m Cm | Bm | Bm | E | E7 |

Solo

| G | G | Bm | Bm Bbm | Am | Am | D | E7 |

Again, make sure you can see how the solo is simply the verse/chorus but one tone down.

Whistle For The Choir second guitar part

In the full lesson, which you’ll get when you take the intermediate course, we play the song in both keys.

Of course, you get full TAB for everything that happens in the video lessons but it doesn’t stop there! We also create a second guitar part and look at what scales you could use when improvising over the chord progression.

The deeper you go into a song like this, the more you’ll learn from it.

Rhythm lesson in the key of A

By changing key we can’t just simply change the chords and play the same parts.

All chords will lend themselves to playing the song in different ways, especially when it’s a one guitar arrangement. For example, if chord I is an E chord, switching the bass between the root and 5th, the 5th will be higher than the root. When in the key of A, the 5th can be placed below the root.

By changing key like this you’ll discover more about a song, its chord progression and what can be done with it. The further you dig, the more you’ll find!

Strumming patterns

In both versions the strumming technique of first playing the bass note, then the remaining chord shape is applied. This is a standard, one guitar arrangement technique as you need to incorporate both bass line and chords when playing just one instrument.

It’s a great idea to have these types of patterns down so you can quickly knock out an arrangement for a song. You’ll learn more about this when you take the intermediate course.